VISION

Under the mantle of Our Lady, Seat of Wisdom, we will provide a vibrant Catholic liberal arts education that integrates faith and reason in all of its disciplines, embraces Divine Revelation, and is rooted in the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church.

Our students will be nourished in a thriving Catholic culture that, with the grace of the Holy Spirit, will lead them to answer God’s call to transform the world through their witness to the saving power of the Truth Who sets us free, Jesus Christ.

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VALUES

We recognize that what is truly valued most in a society influences all other aspects of that society. The Eucharist is “the source and summit of the Church’s life and mission.” For Catholics, the Eucharist is a criterion for our evaluation of everything that we encounter. Eucharistic spirituality “embraces the whole of life”(c.f. Pope Benedict XVI, “Sacramentum Caritatis” 77-78).

Obedience

We are obedient to Christ through the authority of the Church.

Excellence in Teaching, Scholarship and Research

In our pursuit of excellence in education, we ensure that the teaching provided is of the highest quality. We are committed to offering an integrated program that features a strong core curriculum in the Catholic tradition of the liberal arts, but that also allows students to pursue individual intellectual interests. By ensuring both depth and breadth, we encourage students to see the greater context of what they are learning, and to approach the pursuit of truth as a life-long endeavour. Our small classes are intended to ensure interaction between students and faculty, and among students themselves. Students are to pursue their studies in a conscientious and responsible manner. Faculty are to conduct research in order to enrich their teaching and to engage in dialogue amongst themselves and with the broader academic community.

Holiness

Union with God is the ultimate goal of our life, and is achieved by the life of holiness, the life of ever more perfectly knowing, loving, and serving God. Our transformation is the work of the Third Person of the Holy Trinity. As Catholic scholars, we impart the truths of Divine Revelation included in Church Tradition and Teachings, which form a basis for the spiritual life in which the Holy Spirit accomplishes our transformation into holiness. Union with Christ is approached most efficaciously by worship and reception of the Body and Blood of Christ in the Holy Mass, encounters which are prolonged and deepened in prayer before the Blessed Sacrament. Prayer enables kenosis or emptying of self so that “I must decrease and Christ must increase.” Our faculty, staff, and students choose a life of holiness, and we will do all we can to encourage and support one another to “be perfect as [our] heavenly Father is perfect” (Matt 5:48). The ways of holiness are many, and we will provide support and encouragement according to the vocation of each individual [JPII] by teaching, example, spiritual direction and the fullness of the sacramental life, including employing the Sacrament of Reconciliation to maintain the entire academic community in the state of Grace. Thus, holiness will enter into every aspect of our life as each individual strives to perfectly know, love and serve God.

Charity

Knowing about God must be coupled with our active love of God and neighbour. As St. Paul reminds us, possessing all knowledge, understanding and eloquence is meaningless without love. Mindful of this, we recognize each person as a son or daughter of God who reflects His image and likeness, worthy of inestimable dignity. As such, students and faculty are expected to express charity in word and deed, ministering to the Lord present in each other. Incarnating the generous love of Christ, who commands us to love our neighbours as ourselves, we hope to cultivate compassion toward the human family at large. “Love is the fulfillment of all our work…” ~St. Augustine.

Service

“To learn...to love...to serve”

“What good is it, my friends, if someone says he has faith but does not have works?” (James 2: 14) By their baptism, all are called to exercise their faith for and with those who surround them. Faith is expressed in liturgy and also in works. Through their witness to Christian values, all members will be to those around them a light, a ray of hope and a fount of love. We will offer our students and staff the opportunity to exercise their faith in concrete forms such as the ministries of music, art, help to families, to the sick and the elderly, liturgy/chapel and catechesis, to name a few. We will be to the surrounding community a source of support and a model of Christian living not so much by who we say we are, but by who we really are.

Community

Community is founded upon a shared pursuit of a common good. A Catholic community is united by its desire to give glory to God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. It is built on the person of Jesus Christ, imbued with His Holy Spirit, and nourished by the sacramental life of the Church. As a Catholic academic community, we pursue a deeper knowledge of the truth, both natural and revealed, and we provide an atmosphere animated with love and reverence for God and others. This entails conforming ourselves daily to the image of Christ and recognizing His Kingship in every activity. United in our mission of mutual sanctification, we are to see the face of Christ in each member, being mindful of our responsibility to serve one another, the community at large, and the Mystical Body of Christ.

Freedom

An academic community naturally serves freedom, the ability to pursue the good, by removing ignorance. Ignorance of the good and the proper means of pursuing the good is a greater constraint upon an individual than anything that might be imposed from without.

The removal of external constraints to the pursuit of the good is also of value. We seek to ensure that our community does not impose undue impediments, such as intellectual, moral, or financial ones, upon its students and staff in their pursuit of what is truly good, but always encourages them along the path of true freedom.

Our community, apart from its academic aspects, promotes freedom by encouraging a desire for what is truly good, and opportunities to seek true goods. This internal desire for the good, coupled with a knowledge of the good, results in individuals who are truly free.

Justice

Justice is the rendering to each what he is owed. As all that we have is from God, justice toward God demands a continual striving to live in accordance with the Divine order. Justice toward our fellow creatures involves giving to those to whom we owe what we owe at the appropriate time. Justice toward God, however, demands a more generous approach toward one’s fellow man: while delivering what one owes from a human perspective, one must also ask if one may advance God’s order by giving more, and so, gradually, lay down one’s life for one’s friend.

We are committed to treating all people according to their inherent dignity, giving them their due, and in turn expect them to deliver good and honest work. We are also committed to providing a sound philosophical and theological formation, which, along with the experience of an authentic Catholic culture, facilitates justice through a recognition of gifts, limitations, obligations, and opportunities to serve God, Who has entrusted to us the stewardship of creation.

Integrity

In light of Saint Paul's admonition "to live in a manner worthy of the call you have received" (Eph. 4:1), we will integrate what we believe and teach into our daily lives. We will maintain the integrity of our curriculum in both what is taught and how it is taught, and foster a truly Catholic culture in our community. For individuals, staff and students, we will confirm in all ways the mission to live fully our Baptismal vocation.

Culture

Our students will be nourished in a thriving Roman Catholic culture to transform the world through the “charism of intellectual charity”(Pope Benedict XVI, “Address to the Bishops of Ontario, September 8, 2006).

Culture, meaning both learning from and immersion in the traditions of our Catholic heritage, will be integrated into the harmony of the liturgical year by whatever means are available.

While we will experience the treasures of two thousand years of Christianity, we will also witness to contemporary society our commitment to the Culture of Life and the fullness of joy that the Truth gives to us. We will be prepared by both the living teaching of modern encyclicals and the example of all those who strive to incarnate the life of the Gospels and the teachings of the Church.

Members of our community will be invited to participate in a variety of activities beyond their academic pursuits, which will contribute to the growth of the whole person.